Improved machine for stirring and dissolving sugar in sugar-refineries



T. QUICK. I Machine for Stir ring and Dissolving Sugar in SugarRefin'ries.

Patent ed May 8', 1866.

Ill/ l! Walw es .s as

fnv 671107" UNITED STATES PATENT Orricn.

THOMAS H. QUICK, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED MACHINE FOR STIRRING AND DISSOLVING SUGAR IN SUGAR-REFINERIES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 54,597, dated May 8,1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS H. Qnrox, of the city, county, and State ofNew York,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sugar-Agitators;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescript-ion of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings,making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan or topview. Fig. 2 is a partial longitudinal section.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothdrawings.

This invention is designed to supersede the ordinarylaborious andexpensive mode of agitatin g or stirring sugar by manual labor duringthe operation of heating up the same in the refining process; and itconsists in a novel combination of a vibrating agitating-blade with theheater and with a suitable engine for operating the said blade, wherebythe relative force and speedof the agitating-blade is properlyproportioned to the quantity of sugar operated upon, and whereby thesugar may be thoroughly agitated without exposing it to the injuriousaction of the atmosphere, at the same time that the product-ion of smearby the mashing or breaking of the grains of sugar is avoided, and bywhich, furthermore, a more uniform quality of sugar is obtained than bythe usual mauner'of stirring.

A is the heater, in which the mingled sugar and sirup are placed to beboiled or heated up, and which may be of the ordinary construction, witha steam-space, a, between its inner and outer parts, 0 d, as shown inFig. 2, the sugar being heated by the steam in the said space. The innerpart, c, of the heater describes the half of a circle concentric withthe shaft B, which works at each end in suitable boxes orbearin gsformed upon the upper edges of the ends I) of the said heater. Rigidlysecured to the shaft B, near each end thereof, is a bar, 0, each of thesaid bars being attached at one end to the shaft B, and situatedtransversely or at right angles thereto, and of such length that when inthe position represented in Fig. 2 their .opposite or outer ends extendnearly to the semicircular sides or bottom of the heater, Securely fixedin the said outer ends of these bars O, and extending longitudinallyfrom one to the other, is a flat bar, D,

I which constitutes the agitating-blade, which stirs the sugar duringthe operation of the. machine, and which, in so doing, has a vibratingor rocking movement, as will be presently fully set forth. Fixed uponone end of the shaft B, outside of the heater A, is a slotted crank, c,and contiguous thereto is secured upon the end of the heater A thecylinder E and appurtenances thereof of a steam or other engine, whichdrives or operates the agitating-blade D. The said cylinder E may besecured to the end of the heater by means of a solid cast-iron bracket,F, or by other suitable means.

When the engine is of the kind shown in the drawings, the reciprocatingmotion of the piston communicates a swinging or vibrating movement tothe arm or crank f, which, acting through counecting rods g and h, movesthe crank e to and fro, and consequently rocks or vibrates the blade Dwithin the heater A.

Any desired or suitable quantity of the sugar and sirup which it isintended to heat up, being placed in the heater A, is heated by thesteam in the steam-space a at the same time that the blade D receives avibrating motion from the engine,as just herein fully explained. Thesaid blade thus moving alternately in opposite directions causes themingled sugar and sirup to move in current-s alternately in oppositedirections along the semicircular bottom and sides of the heater A andback over the upper edge of the said blade D toward the center of theheater, and by thus keeping it in motion causes it to be uniformlyheated throughout and prevents it from being burned, while, inasmuch asthe blade D is not raised up out of the sugar during the stirringoperation, the sugar adhering thereto is not exposed to the injuriousaction of the atmos phere, as would be the case if rotating agitatoryblades were employed; and as the grains of sugar are prevented frommoving upon each other continually in the same direction the formationof what is technically called smear is avoided. Inasmuch as the blade Dmoves with greater speed and less force as it moves along the sides ofthe heater than when trav:

ersing its bottom, and inasmuch as the greater portion of the sugarsettles by its own weight to the bottom of the heater at the centerthereof, it follows that the force and speed of the said blade areproportioned to the resistance of the sugar at different portions of itsstroke, while by the use of a separate engine to operate theagitating-blade the increased resistanee to the movement of the saidblade of a larger quantity of sugar in the heater causes the engine tomove more slowly, while the diminished resistance of a smaller quantityenables it to move faster, so that the speed of the engine is, as itwere, automatically regulated to meet the requirements of the sugarheated at a time, whereas by operating the agitating-blade from the mainengine of the refinery the said blade could only be run at a uniformspeed or be arbitrarily adjusted to move at a given rate.

By bringing the pivot by which the rod his connected with the crank cinward to the in her end of the slot 6 the shaft B may be turned aroundto bring the blade D up out of the heater Ato allow the said blade andheater to be cleaned. Instead of only one shaft B, with its attachedagitating-blade D, two or more such shafts and blades maybe employedwhen desired, the shafts being connected by suitable cranks or arms andconnecting-rods, and operating within the heater in substantially thesame manner as hereinbefore set forth.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 4 Thecombination and arrangement of the vibrating agitating-blade D with theheater A and engine E, substantially as herein set forth, for thepurpose specified.

THOS. H. QUICK. Witnesses:

A. LE ULERO, J. W. GooMBs.

